Two German Films to Be Featured at This Years Chicago Underground Film Festival

From May 31 to June 7, Chicago will be hosting the 19th annual Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF) which features a wide selection of experimental, documentary, and narrative films. The films screened at CUFF can be a bit bizarre, but that is what makes them unique and a true art form. Filmmakers from around the world submit their independent films to the festival and this year there are two German films that have made it in (Axel Ranisch’s “Heavy Girls” and Johan Carlsen’s “Headlock”). There is also a film by Austrian director Michael Kosakowski, “Zero Killed”, which is in German.

A short description of each film is included below from the CUFF website and a trailer for “Heavy Girls” and “Zero Killed.” You can buy tickets to the screenings in advance or get a Festival Pass that gets you in to see every film. Most of the filmmakers will also be holding a discussion after the screening of their film. All the ticket info can be found at the source link.

Heavy Girls (Dicke Mädchen)

Friday, June 1st at 8pm

Made for under $1,000, with no script and no crew, HEAVY GIRLS tells the tale of Sven and Daniel. Sven lives with his mother, Edeltraut, who suffers from dementia, and Daniel is her caregiver during the day. When Edeltraut (played with aplomb by Ranisch’s 89 year-old grandmother) goes missing, Sven and Daniel end up on a search that turns up something besides Sven’s elderly mother, and changes the nature of their relationship for good. In German with English subtitles.

Headlock

Monday, June 4th at 8pm

Filmmaker Johan Carlsen collaborates with a real-life mother and son to tell the story of the fictional Suzanne and Jonathan, a single mom and her believed-to-be genius child struggling to settle down. While Suzanne yearns for a steady relationship for the first time in twelve years, Jonathan faces bullying and poor grades at school. In German with English subtitles.

Zero Killed

Sunday, June 3rd at 1pm & Wednesday, June 6th at 8pm

ZERO KILLED delves into the minds of a group of seemingly average people who agreed to participate in video dramatizations of their darkest desires to murder another human being. Kosakowki’s documentary revisits the horror through interviews with these would-be killers and clips of the dramatizations made more than 10 years prior. ZERO KILLED explores how violence is depicted both on camera and in our minds. In German with English subtitles.

Stephen founded German Pulse and LGBT Germany out of a passion to introduce Americans to a Germany that goes beyond beer and polka (although with enough beer he has been known to polka it up a bit). He's a coffee addict, lover of wine and good times, a hit in the kitchen and editor of TV commercials. You can follow him on Twitter (@StephenWFuchs) to find out a lot more.